Why I Love Jack O'Connell: Top 5 Films

When an actor has been picked by director Shane Meadows to feature in a film like This is England, you know they are bound to be special. Strangely though, the15 year old Jack O'Connell only had a very minor role in that British classic before getting to really show his skills in later films like Eden Lake and many more. So even though This is England is possibly the best film on O'Connell's CV, you will not find it on this list of his five finest performances.

With Angelina Jolie's Unbroken on the verge of release and likely to see O'Connell's star go stratopheric, here is a look back at what I consider to be his best five performances so far. Expect Unbroken (in which he plays Olympian and POW survivor Louis Zamperini) to be the film to send this guy straight to super stardom.

5. Eden Lake

The first of O'Connell's properly nasty little shits. He seemed to savour the nastiness with every line spat and every smirk and sneer coming naturally to this swaggering young actor. Tormenting Kelly Reilly and Michael Fassbender to death, Brett is a hooded terror; the Daily Mail's worst nightmare. 

4. Tower Block

O'Connell delivers a towering performance in a pretty decent low budget British sniper thriller. He's an awesomely unlikeable anti-hero who steals the limelight from the cast around him.

3. The Liability

O’Connell might have been in danger of being typecast, with his wide-boy posturing becoming a little familiar here but he manages to keep Adam very sympathetic, aided hugely by a strong script and some great banter with Tim Roth. It is another of his sure to be star making turns with Adam being a laugh out loud presence in the film.

2. '71

O’Connell has far less of his usual swagger here; more of a limp actually. It’s arguably his best performance, turning that usual confidence into a cowering, wounded and terrified boy out of his depth. Gone is the hard lad, replaced with something more sincere and though the camera is often pinned to his face, he rarely speaks and gives little away. In fact, by the end of ‘71, we still know little of Gary Hook, but enough to care that he gets home.

1. Starred Up

Jack O’Connell is frequently a Jack-the-Lad type character and this is never more true than in Starred Up. He even has 'Jack the Lad' tattooed on his arm and his sneer, swagger and savagery all attest to the boy’s unflinching desire to do damage. After being brought in to an adult prison, he is stripped and processed. Silent for the first ten minutes of the film, he might appear an unproblematic prisoner. But alone in his cell, he goes about setting himself up with makeshift (and terrifying) weapons and ensuring that when he is attacked, he will be ready. He is a caged animal; cornered, grunted at by the guards, dismissed or threatened by other prisoners but totally unafraid to fight his way out of any corner by any means necessary. O'Connell is riveting and it is one of the best performances of 2014. It will be interesting to see if he can top it with Unbroken.

What is your favourite Jack O'Connell performance?

More from I Love That Film:

 Why I Love Jake Gyllenhaal: Top 5 Films

 Why I Love Cloverfield 

 Why I Love The Hunger Games 

 Why I love Sundance Film Festival

 Why I Love Titanic: Part 1

 Why I Love Aliens

Why I love Sacha Baron Cohen

The Rise and Rise of Jack O'Connell: From This is England to Unbroken

In case you hadn’t noticed, Jack O’Connell is about to go mega-star massive. His next film appearance will be in Angelina Jolie’s second film as director, Unbroken. This is the true story of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic athlete turned military man and plane crash survivor who then survived years of torture as a prisoner of war. Zamperini is an incredible man with an unbelievable life story and Jolie has plucked the relatively unknown (at least in the US) O’Connell to bring Zamperini to life in a film that is sure to gobble Oscar nominations in 2015.

I’ve had my eye on Jack O’Connell for a while now, even if his career to date had been filled with an alarming amount of tough guy thugs. I can’t say I noticed him or paid any particular attention to him way back in one of my favourite films This is England but he is there and the performance is notable as O’Connell’s Pukey isn’t his usual brand of wideboy. O’Connell’s character has a particularly terrifying encounter with Stephen Graham’s menacing racist Combo when O’Connell dares to challenge his beliefs.

O’Connell had many roles in British TV from The Bill through Waterloo Road, Wire in the Blood and Skins but it was the double whammy of Eden Lake and Harry Brown that cemented his status as a go-to-geezer for low-budget British filmmakers. In both these films, but particularly Eden Lake he got to play terrifyingly horrible little bastards; becoming incredibly memorable as the kind of hooded monster that the media was always banging on about as the use of the word ‘chav’ became acceptable in the tabloid press. Banging heads with Michael Fassbender and Michael Caine, Jack O’Connell managed to easily hold his own with these older and more experienced acting greats.

Eden Lake clip

O’Connell was then given bigger parts in the likes of little known films such as Tower Block and The Liability. They may be small films but O’Connell’s swaggering performances were bigger and better than the films he was in. Playing the hoodlum was a speciality and O’Connell could have easily been stuck by typecasting positioning him as a loudmouth loutish lad for life but then he was delivered a couple of really interesting roles to start flexing his acting muscles with.

Tower Block Trailer

The Liability Trailer

While a small but notable role in 300: Rise of an Empire allowed him to show off a six pack and likely take a tidy paycheque, it was his performances in the excellent Starred Up  and '71 that should really have seen him become a massive star in 2014. As young convict Eric Love in Starred Up , O’Connell got to face off with Ben Mendelsohn as his jailbird father but also show a fascinating vulnerability beneath the bravado. Similarly, in '71 his usual swagger was replaced by a limp as O’Connell’s soldier spends most of the film injured, scared and running for his life from the IRA in Belfast.

Starred Up Trailer

I’d recommend any of these films, particularly just to watch O’Connell at work. His rise to the top has been filled with great performances but Unbroken looks set to be the one that really puts him on the international map. 2014 has already been an exceptional year for the star but it will be crowned by the true life story of horror and hope that Jolie has in bringing to big screens on Boxing Day. Don’t be surprised if O’Connell is up for Best Actor in 2015 awards season. He’s already earned it.

Unbroken Trailer

Still here? What is your favourite performance from Jack O'Connell?

Trailers at I Love That Film

Reviews at I Love That Film

London Film Festival 2014

Buy my book on The Blair Witch Project

Videos from I Love That Film

Best British Films of 2013

I saw nearly 20 British films in 2013, many of them of an excellent quality. I love a bit of homegrown cinema and wish more of our talent felt that they could stay in the UK and make the films they want to make. It seems that the Brits pretty much rule Hollywood anyway but imagine if all our stars, directors and all the rest of the talent that bugger off to Hollywood continued to make films for the British industry, I'm damn sure we could rival the American industry.

Superman, Spiderman and the last Batman were all British. Harry Potter was British. Why isn't the British industry as wealthy as Hollywood? Well that's a debate for another time. But thankfully because there isn't as much ludicrous amounts of money flying around, we get to make some gritty and challenging films that often reflect the ugliness and occasionally the beauty of this fair isle.

Sometimes we want to make crowd pleasers and sometimes it seems our directors are actively trying to put people off from seeing their films. I think my top 10 of the year shows a very healthy and diverse British film industry at work.

The only films that I suspect I should have seen before making this list are: The Selfish Giant, Philomena and About Time.


The films that nearly made this list include: Summer in February, Song For Marion and Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa. 

And now on to the main event. If I have reviewed the film, then please click the title to be magically transported! Here is my top 10 British films of 2013:

10. The Look of Love 

'The Look of Love is the rise and fall of an exploitative entrepreneur. Raymond may not be overly likeable but his relationship with his daughter can be touching and provides evidence of a misguided heart beneath the brash exterior perfectly played by Coogan.'

9. Trance 

'Trance may not have the propulsion or the life affirming joy of Danny Boyle’s greatest films, but as a modern noir and an intriguing psychological maze of a film, it leaves most recent thrillers as distant fading memories.'

8. Sunshine On Leith 

'If nothing else Sunshine on Leith should have you singing along to many of the tunes and confirms Dexter Fletcher as a diverse director to watch. It is a sunny delight!'

7. In Fear 

'In Fear is simplicity itself for much of its running time before running out of gas and resorting to conventional psycho killer thrills by the final scenes. The story may lack much that is new but the execution is brutally efficient.'

6. The Liability 

'The Liability comes loaded with two smoking barrels worth of humour and warmth. While it does not match the very best of British, it is a sharp shooting hitman thriller nonetheless.'

5. I Give it a Year 

'Taking awkward comedy to new levels of cringe worthiness, I Give It A Year will make you squirm in your seat more than a Saw film. Give it ninety minutes of your life.'

4. How I Live Now 

 'Adapted from the novel by Meg Rosoff, it really treats its audience as adults containing mild incest, plenty of swearing, a dash of sex and some shocking moments of violence. It is admirable for not toning down the brutality of war (hello Hunger Games) or the language and lust of its protagonists (goodbye Twilight).'

3.Filth 

'With a sensational soundtrack and putrid performance from McAvoy, Filth is far more fun than it should be. Wallow in it…'

2. Broken 

'Broken is at its best with its wonderful characters and their beautifully observed relationships. The film is filled with outstanding performances that will make audiences smile, laugh and maybe even cry. There are minor issues but nothing in urgent need of repair and Broken will likely be fixed in your mind long after the credits roll.'

1.The World's End

 'The World’s End is like a perfectly poured pint. Golden, bubbly and with an excellent head on it; it tastes so good, you hope that there will be more flavours to the so-called Cornetto trilogy. Instantly quotable and with some of the best profanity ever written, The World’s End is a great way to spend your last night on Earth.'

What were your favourite British films of 2013?

Why don't you stay awhile? More 2013 lists from I Love That Film:

TV in 2013: Breaking Bad, Dexter, The Walking Dead, Homeland and more

World Cinema in 2013

Best books I read in 2013

Top Documentaries of 2013

2013 List of Shame or 25 films I should have seen this year

2013 Top 10 Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction

2013 Top 10 So Far (written in July)

Top 25 Films to see in 2014

Weekend Screenings: The Lords of Salem, Trance, The Liability

I've got three wonderful screenings lined up this weekend; two for Filmoria and one just for me (though I may end up reviewing it for Filmoria too). Rob Zombie's new horror The Lords of Salem stars his good old wife Sheri Moon Zombie again and looks far more interesting than his other films so far, particularly those last two Halloween remakes. From the trailer below, it looks very atmospheric and almost like it is going for a slightly more mature style than his earlier films. Less all out gore and brutality and more of a focus on a single female character who may or may not be going crazy perhaps? Perhaps it's even fair to say The Lords of Salem looks like Rob Zombie has been studying the likes of Dario Argento and Roman Polanski. Perhaps.



Trance is Danny Boyle's first film since 127 Hours. Danny Boyle is one of my favourite directors for three reasons: Trainspotting, 28 Days Later and 127 Hours. He may have been busy with a theatre version of Frankenstein and the small matter of the London Olympics Opening Ceremony (which I have still yet to see as I was on honeymoon in Costa Rica), but he is back with a great cast, a very interesting and trippy, twisty sounding premise and one of my favourite actors Vincent Cassell. I literally cannot wait to see this film. Though Boyle has had the odd misfire, I think this looks like a good one. My Danny Boyle Retrospective is going up on Filmoria tomorrow so please check it out. I've been going through his entire back catalogue which has mostly been a pleasure.



I'm not sure what to think about this next one. The Liability is a British hit man thriller. It's got a great cast with Tim Roth, Peter Mullan and Jack O'Connell and despite the silly macho voice over in this trailer, looks like quite a bit of fun potentially. I'll watch Tim Roth in anything and Jack O'Connell is bound to be a very big star eventually. He was great in Tower Block and is already set for bigger things with the upcoming 300 prequel.



Any of these films take your fancy?